The History of Political Philosophy: From Plato to Rothbard
By Mises Institute
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Description
In this ten-lecture course sponsored by Steve Berger and Kenneth Garschina, intellectual historian David Gordon guides students through a survey of the greatest thinkers, and evaluates these scholars by their arguments for and against the idea of Liberty.Download the complete audio of this event (ZIP) here.
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10. Robert Nozick and Murray Rothbard | Robert Nozick, 1938-2002, was a professor at Harvard whose best known book is Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) – a libertarian answer to Rawls’ A Theory of Justice (1971). Most controversially, Nozick argued that a consistent upholding of the no | 6/8/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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8. John Stuart Mill, Lysander Spooner and Herbert Spencer | John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873, was the most famous classical liberal, a British philosopher and a political economist whose concept of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. His hierarchy of pleasures in | 6/7/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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9. John Rawls | John Rawls, 1921-2002, was the most influential figure among American philosophers. His first, and main, work, A Theory of Justice (1971), made him famous. It aimed to resolve the seemingly competing claims of freedom and equality. Two additional books, | 6/7/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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6. Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, influenced the French Revolution with his political philosophy and his social contract theory. The perspective of many of today’s environmentalists can be traced back to Rousseau, espousing that all degenerates in man | 6/6/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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7. Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel | Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804, was called the most evil person by Ayn Rand. Kant had rules for everything. His views on religion were unorthodox. His classical republican theory was extended in the Science of Right, the first part of the Metaphysics of Moral | 6/6/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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4. Thomas Hobbes | Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, best known work is Leviathan (1651) which established social contract theory. His liberal thinking included: The right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character of the political order; the vie | 6/5/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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5. John Locke | John Locke, 1632-1704, was the Father of Classical Liberalism. Human beings in their rationality are in God’s image. His law of nature was ethical and universal. Human preservation was tantamount. Each person has a property in himself. Property preced | 6/5/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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2. Aristotle | Aristotle, 384-322 BC, joined Plato’s Academy in Athens at eighteen and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. He was not a citizen of Athens. His writings constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. He tutored Alexander th | 6/4/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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9 |
3. Thomas Aquinas | Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274, was an Italian Dominican friar and Catholic priest and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism. Thomas attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christ | 6/4/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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10 |
1. Plato | Intellectual historians want to look at the past to find questions of value. Greeks are considered the start of political philosophy. Plato, 428-348 BCE, is the most famous. Plato’s teacher, Socrates, was killed by Athenian democracy. Plato did not li | 6/3/2007 | Free | View in iTunes |
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Customer Reviews
Gordon is a Genius
Sometimes David Gordon knows too much that it makes it difficult to follow, but overall this is a rewarding collection of lectures.
No Episodes
Where are the lectures?
David Gordon at his finest
I never found philosophy a subject of interest until I heard David speak at Mises U. Listening to david speak is like finding yourself in the company of a beautiful woman and savoring a glass of 20 year Scotch, a remarkably pleasant experience. The way David provides such detailed explanations of philosophical thought has left me with no alternative but to begin reading books of philosophy. Perhaps when I finish reading the list of books I've gathered from his lectures I might speak with him and have something worthwhile to say during conversation with him.
